A system for bridging the ideological divide by establishing a moral framework for news consumption

Abstract

Society is becoming increasingly ideologically divided. People exist in filter bubbles online, where they are exposed to primarily homogeneous perspectives and news sources. However, diversity in news consumption is important: it creates more informed societies, healthier democracies, and more solid understandings of one's own beliefs. In this thesis, we propose Pano - a system for bridging the ideological divide by surfacing moral framing in news. Pano provides a way to educate consumers of online news to think in a moral framework of shared human values, challenging their understandings of views held by those different from them through collaborative highlighting and annotation of moral framing in text. We demonstrate the effectiveness of Pano in a 10-day field study and find positive changes toward improved empathy and ability to re-frame arguments in the moral foundations of the audiences, showing promise toward the ultimate goal of bridging the ideological divide.